Railway construction



(No Model.)

- D. BELL.

- RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION.l l

No. 372,108. 1Patented 0012.25, 1887.

l. u L u 1U @mi UNiTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL BELL, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION.

SPECIFICATION\fOrming part of Letters Patent-No. 372,108, dated October25, 1887.

Application filed December 22, 1886. Serial No. 222,328. (No model.)

To all whom, t may concern.-

Be it known that I, DANIEL BELL, acitizen of the United States, residingat St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, haveinvented certai n new and useful Improvements in Railway Construction,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railway construction; and it consists in themanner of arranging thejoints between the rails, whereby the openexpansion-spacesbetween the ends of the rails are avoided and acontinuous rail provided, so that all pounding7 and jumping 7 of therolling-stock over the open joints.

when the rails are contracted by cold weather is avoided, and a largeamount of wear and tear prevented, as hereinafter shown.

In the drawings, Figure lis a sectional side view of a portion of arailway-track with my improvement arranged thereon. Fig. 2 is a planview of Fig. l. Fig.,3 is an enlarged View of aportion of theexpansion-joint, i1lustrating more fully its construction. Fig. 4 is aplan view of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a cross-sec tional view. Fig. 6 isaperspective View, inverted, of oneof the tie-plates used to assist insecuring the joints of the rails.`

In laying railway-tracks the expansion and contraction ofthe metal ofthe railsis animportant factorthat mustbe considered hence when thetrack is laid in hot weather,the rails being expanded to about thegreatest extent to which they will ever be expanded, the ends of therails are laidcomparatively close together, whereas if the tracks arelaid in col-d weather, when the rails are contracted, the ends must beplaced some distance apart, (about onefourth or three-eighths of aninch,)` so that 1 when the rails are expanded by the heat of the warmweather they will expand into these spaces and will not crowd againsteach other 'and cause the rails to be forced out of place.

This expansion and contraction amounts to about il'tytwo inches in eachmile of railroad, and as there are about one hundred and sixty rails ineach mile of track, each wheel must in cold weather jump an open spacebetween each rail that number of times in traveling each mile. This is avery serious consid eration in the operation of railways,and is thecause of many accidents by the tendency of this-constant pounding todisplace or break the rails and wheels. 1

The object ot' my invention is to avoid the 'necessity for leaving theopen spaces between the ends of the rails for expansion and contraction,which I accomplish by uniting the ends of the rails firmly and closelytogether, except at long intervals, and arranging at these longintervalsclosed expansionjoints, which leaves the rails free to expand andcontract, but Without forming openings between the ends ofthe rails.

If the road-bed ofthe railway has no short curves or'abruptgrades, theexpansion-joints may be placed at much longer intervals than where thereverse is the fact, the distance between the expansion-joints Varyingfrom one thousand feet to one or lnore miles, according to the lay ofthe roadfbed. At a point midway between each of the expansion-joints therails A will be firmly secured to the ties B, so that they cannot bemoved in either direction. All the joints between the rails A except theexpansion-joints will be fixed joints, with the ends of the rails,butting tightly against each other, and irmly held in that position. Anysuitable method may be employed to thus secure the ends of the railstogether; but for the purpose of illustration I have shown the ordinaryfish-plate.7 a., with the bolts or rivets b, without slots, so thatthere can be no movement ofthe joint. I have also shown the fish-platessupplemented by a plate, D, heneath the joint and resting across two ormore ties B, and with the ends of the rails A bolted or otherwise firmlyfastened thereto, the object desired being to rigidly and firmly securethe ends of the rails together, so that no opening willever-oecurbetween them under any circumstances.

lf the rails'be laid in cold weather, or when the rails are contracted,the intervals between the ends of the rails at the expansionjoints mustbe equal to the amount of the expansion of the rails between theexpansion-joints and the two nearest fixed points, so that when therails are expanded in warm weather the ends Vat the expansion-jointswill not come in contact and force the rails ont of place.

If the rails are laid in hot weather, or when they are expanded, theends ot' the rails at the IOU expansionjoints will be placedcomparatively close together, and when the rails are laid in a mediumtemperature the amount of expansion must be considered and the intervalsbetween the ends arranged accordingly, this interval of space forcontraction and expansion being well understood by track-masters andothers who are familiar with the construction of railways.

Alongside of the ends of the rails A, at the expansion-joints, shortersections of rails, A', will be placed to cover the openings between theen ds of the rails and form bridges to Support the wheels and preventthem from droppinginto the gap between the rails. This bridgingpicee Amay be made of a section ot' a rail, or ol' a specially-forined piece,but pret'- erably a section of a rail will be employed, as in thedrawings.

The edge ofthe lower flange, d, of the rails A will be cut oil" for ashort distance, anda portion of the lower flange, c, ot` the bridgingrail A will likewise be eut off", so that the adjacent edges of theheads g g of the rails A and the rail A may be set in close contact toinsure the treads of' the wheels riding thereon, the treads being amplywide to allow this et't'ect being produced.

The ends of the rails A and A will be tapcred on their upper surfacesfor a short distance back from their ends, so that the wheels will ridethem easiiy, and not be in danger of jumping at these points.

At frogs, crossings,and switches the rails A will be fastened, as at Ein Figs. l and 2, and the expansion-joints placed upon either side ofthem, as the rails A must be held from any end movement at these points.

lhe bridging-rails A will be firmly fastened to a metal plate, F, whichrests upon the tie B beneath the expansion-joint and this plate, andwill extend entirely across from one rail A to the other, so that thetwo opposite bridging-rails will be firmly held iu place and all sidemovement prevented.

Guard-rails H will be inserted opposite cach expansion-joint to preventthe flanges of the wheels from running into the gap between the endsofthe rails A; or, if preferred, a block, K, lnay be inserted to partiallytill the gap in cold weather, and adapted to be removed in warm weather;r when the rails A are expanded. Themost approved method ot using theguard-rails and blocks, however, is to rel move the blocks and insertthe guard rails in warln weather, and insert the blocks and rcinove theguard-rails in cold weather, when the latter would interfere with theoperation ofthe flangers,7l` or machines for removing snow and ice frombetween the rails.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new isl. In arailway, the rails laid in sections of considerable length, the rails ineach section being laid end to end close together, and being heldimmovably together with no opportunity for expansion and contractionbetween the individual rails, the several sections of rails being laidwith an expansion jointor space between them, said expansion-joint beingsufficient for the expansion and contraction of all the rails in asingle section,in combination with a bridging rail placed alongside theend rails of' adjacent sections, substantially as set Yf'orth,therebybridging thejoint and providinga rail for the wheels ot' the rollingstoel( to pass over said joint.

2. In a railway, the rails laid in sections of considerable length, therails in each section being laid with no allowance for their eXpansionand contraction, but being laid with their ends close together, theseveral sections ofrails being laid with an expansion joint or spacebetween them, said joint being sufficient for the expansion andcontraction of' all the rails in a single section, in combinationwithabridgingrail placed alongside the end rails ot' adjacent sectionsto break the joint, and a guardrail on the side next the bridgingfrail,substantially as set forth.

3. In raib 'ay coustruction,the combination, with the main rails A, of'bridging-rails A, having removable iillingblocks K attached theretobetween the ends ofsaid main rails,sub stautially as and for the purposeset forth.

et. In railway construction, wherein the ends of the rails areinunovably united except at long intervals, supplen'lental plates D,placed beneath the joints and bolted or otherwise attached to the endsof said rails, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

DANIEL BELL.

Vitnesses:

C. N. WooDwltnD, H. S. Huisman ICO

